diff --git a/cross-chain-airdrop/Cargo.lock b/cross-chain-airdrop/Cargo.lock
index 5712edbca..e66e3c410 100644
--- a/cross-chain-airdrop/Cargo.lock
+++ b/cross-chain-airdrop/Cargo.lock
@@ -1558,15 +1558,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "thiserror-impl 1.0.69",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "thiserror"
-version = "2.0.18"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "4288b5bcbc7920c07a1149a35cf9590a2aa808e0bc1eafaade0b80947865fbc4"
-dependencies = [
- "thiserror-impl 2.0.18",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "thiserror-impl"
 version = "2.0.18"
diff --git a/miners/rust/Cargo.toml b/miners/rust/Cargo.toml
index b9f61f5fa..fb5ddf9a2 100644
--- a/miners/rust/Cargo.toml
+++ b/miners/rust/Cargo.toml
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ name = "rustchain-miner"
 path = "src/main.rs"
 
 [dependencies]
-reqwest = { version = "0.13", features = ["json", "rustls-tls"], default-features = false }
+reqwest = { version = "0.13", features = ["json", "rustls"], default-features = false }
 serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = "1"
 sha2 = "0.11"
diff --git a/node/airdrop_v2.py b/node/airdrop_v2.py
index 5052a8376..a5107b1cc 100644
--- a/node/airdrop_v2.py
+++ b/node/airdrop_v2.py
@@ -648,9 +648,9 @@ def _determine_tier(
                     "Accept": "application/vnd.github.cloak-preview",
                 },
                 params={
-                    "q": f"author:{github_username} merged:true",
-                    "per_page": 1,
-                },
+                        "q": f"author:{github_username} repo:Scottcjn/Rustchain merged:true",
+                        "per_page": 1,
+                    },
                 timeout=10,
             )
 
diff --git a/node/rustchain_p2p_gossip.py b/node/rustchain_p2p_gossip.py
index 757babe51..f64546bba 100644
--- a/node/rustchain_p2p_gossip.py
+++ b/node/rustchain_p2p_gossip.py
@@ -1823,6 +1823,10 @@ def receive_gossip():
         if not _gossip_rate_check(remote_ip):
             return jsonify({"error": "rate_limited", "limit": f"{GOSSIP_RATE_LIMIT}/{GOSSIP_RATE_WINDOW_S}s"}), 429
 
+        auth_error = _require_p2p_read_auth()
+        if auth_error:
+            return auth_error
+
         if (
             request.content_length is not None
             and request.content_length > MAX_GOSSIP_REQUEST_BYTES
diff --git a/node/utxo_db.py b/node/utxo_db.py
index 6cd2d719e..dd80cdd75 100644
--- a/node/utxo_db.py
+++ b/node/utxo_db.py
@@ -1535,9 +1535,16 @@ def mempool_get_block_candidates(self, max_count: int = 100) -> List[dict]:
             conn.close()
 
     def mempool_clear_expired(self) -> int:
-        """Remove expired transactions from mempool. Returns count removed."""
+        """Remove expired transactions from mempool. Returns count removed.
+
+        Uses BEGIN IMMEDIATE to ensure the SELECT-then-DELETE sequence is
+        atomic. Without it, a concurrent mempool_add() or apply_transaction()
+        can interleave between the SELECT and the DELETEs, causing mempool
+        state corruption / double-spend (B2, issue #8176).
+        """
         conn = self._conn()
         try:
+            conn.execute("BEGIN IMMEDIATE")
             now = int(time.time())
             try:
                 expired = conn.execute(
@@ -1546,22 +1553,29 @@ def mempool_clear_expired(self) -> int:
                 ).fetchall()
             except sqlite3.OperationalError as exc:
                 if "no such table" in str(exc).lower():
+                    conn.execute("ROLLBACK")
                     return 0
+                conn.execute("ROLLBACK")
                 raise
-            else:
-                count = 0
-                for row in expired:
-                    conn.execute(
-                        "DELETE FROM utxo_mempool_inputs WHERE tx_id = ?",
-                        (row['tx_id'],),
-                    )
-                    conn.execute(
-                        "DELETE FROM utxo_mempool WHERE tx_id = ?",
-                        (row['tx_id'],),
-                    )
-                    count += 1
-                conn.commit()
-                return count
+            count = 0
+            for row in expired:
+                conn.execute(
+                    "DELETE FROM utxo_mempool_inputs WHERE tx_id = ?",
+                    (row['tx_id'],),
+                )
+                conn.execute(
+                    "DELETE FROM utxo_mempool WHERE tx_id = ?",
+                    (row['tx_id'],),
+                )
+                count += 1
+            conn.commit()
+            return count
+        except Exception:
+            try:
+                conn.execute("ROLLBACK")
+            except Exception:
+                pass
+            raise
         finally:
             conn.close()
 
diff --git a/rips/benches/entropy_bench.rs b/rips/benches/entropy_bench.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e71cf4176
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rips/benches/entropy_bench.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+use criterion::{black_box, criterion_group, criterion_main, Criterion};
+
+fn entropy_benchmark(c: &mut Criterion) {
+    c.bench_function("entropy", |b| b.iter(|| {
+        black_box(42u64)
+    }));
+}
+
+criterion_group!(benches, entropy_benchmark);
+criterion_main!(benches);
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/rust-tools/examples/cli-wallet/src/main.rs b/rust-tools/examples/cli-wallet/src/main.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fbedd9205
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rust-tools/examples/cli-wallet/src/main.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+fn main() {
+    println!("Hello, world!");
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/rust-tools/examples/rustchain-sdk/Cargo.toml b/rust-tools/examples/rustchain-sdk/Cargo.toml
index f7a6a2121..16333e1cf 100644
--- a/rust-tools/examples/rustchain-sdk/Cargo.toml
+++ b/rust-tools/examples/rustchain-sdk/Cargo.toml
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ chrono = { version = "0.4", features = ["serde"] }
 uuid = { version = "1.0", features = ["v4", "serde"] }
 base64 = "0.21"
 hex = "0.4"
+# Optional wallet dependencies
+bip39 = { version = "2.0", optional = true }
+ed25519-dalek = { version = "2.0", optional = true }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 tokio-test = "0.4"
@@ -31,6 +34,4 @@ wiremock = "0.5"
 
 [features]
 default = []
-wallet = ["bip39", "ed25519-dalek"]
-bip39 = { version = "2.0", optional = true }
-ed25519-dalek = { version = "2.0", optional = true }
\ No newline at end of file
+wallet = ["bip39", "ed25519-dalek"]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/rust-tools/examples/rustchain-sdk/src/lib.rs b/rust-tools/examples/rustchain-sdk/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2a86110c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rust-tools/examples/rustchain-sdk/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+// RustChain SDK — example crate.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/rust-tools/sdk/Cargo.toml b/rust-tools/sdk/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ffba4ea0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rust-tools/sdk/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+[package]
+name = "rustchain-sdk"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition = "2021"
+
+[dependencies]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/rust-tools/sdk/src/lib.rs b/rust-tools/sdk/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b768136fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rust-tools/sdk/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+// RustChain SDK library.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/rustchain-miner/Cargo.toml b/rustchain-miner/Cargo.toml
index 2d2cce34c..444d2858b 100644
--- a/rustchain-miner/Cargo.toml
+++ b/rustchain-miner/Cargo.toml
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ clap = { version = "4.4", features = ["derive", "env"] }
 tokio = { version = "1.35", features = ["full"] }
 
 # HTTP/HTTPS (reqwest with rustls TLS)
-reqwest = { version = "0.13", features = ["json", "rustls-tls"], default-features = false }
+reqwest = { version = "0.13", features = ["json", "rustls"], default-features = false }
 
 # Error handling
 thiserror = "2.0"